Can you believe it?
Pravda (Russian: Правда, IPA:[ˈpravdə]ⓘ, lit. 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the country with a circulation of 11 million. The newspaper began publication on 5 May 1912 in the Russian Empire but was already extant abroad in January 1911.
Though Pravda officially began publication on 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS), the anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, its origins trace back to 1903 when it was founded in Moscow by V.A. Kozhevnikov. Pravda had started publishing in the light of the Russian Revolution of 1905. During its earliest days, Pravda had no political orientation. Kozhevnikov started it as a journal of arts, literature and social life.
Kozhevnikov was able to form up a team of young writers including A.A. Bogdanov, N.A Rozhkov, M.N Pokrovsky, I.I Skvortsov-Stepanov, P.P Rumyantsev and M.G. Lunts, who were active contributors on 'social life' section of Pravda. Later, they became the editorial board of the journal, and, became the active members of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).
Pravda emerged as the leading government newspaper of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution. The newspaper was an organ of the Central Committee of the CPSU between 1912 and 1991. The Ukrainian political party Spilka, which was also a splinter group of the RSDLP, took over the journal as its organ. Leon Trotsky was invited to edit the paper in 1908, and the paper was moved to Vienna in 1909. By then, the editorial board of Pravda consisted of hard-line Bolsheviks who sidelined the Spilka leadership soon after it shifted to Vienna. Trotsky had introduced a tabloid format to the newspaper and distanced itself from the intra-party struggles inside the RSDLP. During those days, Pravda gained a large audience among Russian workers. By 1910, the Central Committee of the RSDLP suggested making Pravda its official organ.
At the sixth conference of the RSDLP held in Prague in January 1912, the Menshevik faction was expelled from the party. The party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin made Pravda its official party organ. The paper was moved from Vienna to St. Petersburg and the first issue under Lenin's leadership was published on 5 May 1912 (22 April 1912 OS). It was the first time Pravda was published as a legal political newspaper. The first issue cost two kopecks and had four pages. It had articles on economic issues, workers movement, and strikes, and had two proletarian poems. It sold between 40,000 and 60,000 copies.
The 42 editors that came after Trotsky until 1914, were not real editors of Pravda as the position was pseudo in nature. The main task of these editors was to go to jail whenever needed and to save the party from a huge fine.
The abdication of Emperor Nicholas II during the February Revolution of 1917 allowed Pravda to reopen. The original editors of the newly revived Pravda, Vyacheslav Molotov (of the cocktail fame) . . .
. . . and Alexander Shlyapnikov, were opposed to the liberal Russian Provisional Government. When Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin and former Duma deputy Matvei Muranov returned from Siberian exile on 12 March, they took over the editorial board – starting from 15 March.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union Pravda was sold by Russian president Boris Yeltsin
to a Greek business family – the Giannikoses – in 1992, and the paper
came under the control of their private company Pravda International.
Pravda still operates from the same headquarters at Pravda Street in Moscow from where journalists used to work on Pravda during the Soviet era. It operates under the leadership of journalist Boris Komotsky, who is also a member of the Russian State Duma.
On 5 May 2012, Pravda marked its centenary, with a grand celebration at the Trade Unions house organized by the Communist Party.
There is a post punk group named Pravda (link below), there is a record label, Pravda Records and in 1969 There was a documentary film directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
Viewfinder Links:
Emperor Nicholas II
Net Links:
dfrlab ~ The Pravda Network
East View ~ Pravda Digital Archive
The New Yorker ~ Pravda
Pravda ~ Body Addict
Styrous® ~ Monday, April 6, 2026
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